What a sad article, particularly (well, the abuse aspect is the saddest part but most notable bit was) his showbiz/'Whose Line' chums ditching him when his fortunes turned. Twats. I too hope his best is yet to come.

Living on two bottle of vodka and 10g of coke might alienate some people, to be fair. I hope he gets all the help he needs, but he did sound like an absolute nightmare during his breakdown period.

The fact he's still drinking is a bit of an alarm bell for me. If you'd known him at his worst and you know that going out for a meal or drink could be the catalyst for him either kicking off or harming his own health, you'd probably want to give him a wide berth, for his own sake if not yours.

The 'references' section of his wikipedia page suggests he resurfaces about every five or six years for the express purpose of being interviewed by a broadsheet journalist about his breakdown and his hope for the future.

Why do his best friends get to call him TC ? Shouldn't they be calling him TS ?

I was going to write something about how ol' Eddie Argos ( former ) features has Creation Records connections, and if you ask him politely, he can hook you up with all kinds of material from some top bands that were on that label in their heyday, including the debut album by Ride. This would involve me ending my statement with the words " Slattery will get you ' Nowhere ' ".I think we can all agree that it would be best all round if I didn't do that.

Why do his best friends get to call him TC ? Shouldn't they be calling him TS ?

Because I accidentally typed 'TC' instead of 'TS' and, rather than delete a single letter, I then wrote '(as his best friends get to call him)' because the pointlessness of doing so amused me.Similar to going out of my way to post this unnecessarily long-winded response.

The Guardian piece seems to have generated a lot of goodwill and new followers to TC (as his best friends get to call him) on Twitter. Unusually for Twitter, it makes for pleasant reading too.

Was just going to say this. I think his followers jumped from around 12k to nearly 30k since the interview was published. He does seemed genuinely overwhelmed and grateful for all the messages of support he has received. And yes, it shows Twitter can be a kind and decent place, sometimes!

I've been moved to view clips of dear old Dirk Bogarde Except A Lot Prettier Features' top 1993 sit- com " Just A Gigolo" ( I remember viewing it when first broadcast too- me and my friend would sit there chuckling at it on a Thursday Eve before repairing to our local hostelry. I think we both had a bit of a man crush on Slatto ). It's not the most staggeringly funny sit-com in the world, but TS has some decent comedy acting chops on him, and the whole thing's amusing enough. Also features Wanda Ventham's WANDA VENTHAM!Dear God, what an incredibly handsome man Tony Slattery was in his day; and what an all-round decent ( if somewhat troubled ) sort he seems now.HURRAH FOR SLATTERY!

Was just going to say this. I think his followers jumped from around 12k to nearly 30k since the interview was published. He does seemed genuinely overwhelmed and grateful for all the messages of support he has received. And yes, it shows Twitter can be a kind and decent place, sometimes!

Also, reading his tweets proves he's still a very witty funny guy.

Look I've managed to avoid Twitter this far, please stop making me want to go on it now.

Seriously though if you'd told 13 year old me that it'd one day be possible to have a direct line of communication with Tony Slattery through which I could receive his thoughts at any hour of the day and that there was even a vague possibility he'd see something I wrote, I'd have died of joy.

Very sad to read about his shit time. I had a vague awareness that hehad a head full of demons but not that they were so all-consuming. One thing though, not totally convinced that ALL his famous mates said adieu because he became poor. It’s usually mistreatment that ends friendships.

Why do these articles not mention that in the mid-'00s for a while he was a regular character in Coronation Street and ten years ago had a recurring role in Kingdom? It's like they're making out he hasn't worked since WLIIA?

Very sad to read about his shit time. I had a vague awareness that hehad a head full of demons but not that they were so all-consuming. One thing though, not totally convinced that ALL his famous mates said adieu because he became poor. It’s usually mistreatment that ends friendships.

There is so much fake celebrity shite on the TV I find it hard to believe he can't get any work to pay the bills. Can he really not keeps the shakes down long enough to knock of a couple of episodes of Bargain Hunt?

There is so much fake celebrity shite on the TV I find it hard to believe he can't get any work to pay the bills. Can he really not keeps the shakes down long enough to knock of a couple of episodes of Bargain Hunt?

He should get his own series of something. Is he into anything, apart from vodka and ching? Great British Electricity Substations with Tony Slattery.

Reasons why Tony Slattery lost contact with members of the Whose Line cast;

Sold Colin Mochrie's remaining hair to buy gear.Did things to Josie Lawrence's car whilst fucked up on gear.Threw Greg Proops into the sea whilst off his nut on gear.Posted powerful propaganda to Ryan Stiles' wife whilst slamming gear.Scooped out the filling of Mike McShane's lunctime pasty and filled it with his own shit whilst off his tits on gear.Called Stephen Frost a shaved Wookie prick whilst phoning his dealer to get more gear.Battered Richard Vranch half to death because he wouldn't lend him money to buy gear.